Ruto: Uhuru told me ‘handshake’ was Raila’s retirement route – Video
Deputy President William Ruto has continued his attack on President Uhuru Kenyatta, suggesting his boss lied to him on the details of his handshake with opposition leader Raila Odinga.
President Kenyatta recently said he’d fully briefed his DP on behind the scenes talks he had with Odinga in the run up to a political agreement in March 2018 dubbed the ‘handshake’.
And while the DP, who is currently on the tour of the US, acknowledged, in an interview with the Voice of America, that he was indeed briefed, he suggests his boss was economical with the truth.
“We got involved in the handshake and it was billed as a tool for bringing people together. There was no problem (with the handshake) but then (along the way) things we’d agreed upon mutated into something else,” claimed the DP.
“We didn’t discuss it (handshake) will be an exercise to kill opposition and kill oversight of government.”
The DP also suggests President Kenyatta told him the handshake was a conveyor belt to aid Raila Odinga to retire peacefully from politics.
“I was briefed that Raila Odinga wanted to be facilitated to retire. And I remember asking, really? do you expect him to retire. I know Raila and know his games, every fear I had has come to pass.”
We didn’t agree that this is an exercise in changing the constitution, we didn’t agree that this (handshake) is an exercise that will lead to succession (of President Kenyatta). Everything we did not agree on is what happened.”
Ultimately, President Kenyatta’s political deal with Raila led to the fallout with his Deputy.
Ruto and Raila are front runners in the race to succed President Kenyatta ahead of the August 2022 polls.
Ruto has, meanwhile, reiterated that he intends to conceede defeat should he fairly lose elections.